


Black Coffee

by epistemology



Series: The Official Gotham City Bat Cafe [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Don't Post To Another Site, Jaydick-flashic: news, M/M, POV Outsider, Tumblr: JayDick Flash Fanwork Challenge, kind of a coffe shop au, tagging as jaydick but it's only mentioned/implied, the news theme is light because this was adapted to fit last minute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 10:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23469817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epistemology/pseuds/epistemology
Summary: Amanda got to work cleaning the tables yet again; the night shift was really boring, she was learning. That is, until Red Robin walked in.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Jason Todd
Series: The Official Gotham City Bat Cafe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1688404
Comments: 10
Kudos: 206





	Black Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> This little drabble came to me a while ago, but I wanted to wait until my other fic, [Take An Umbrella](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22808923/chapters/54508810) was finished to post it. Thankfully I did because I was able to at least somewhat connect it to this month's jaydick-flashfic prompt, which I hadn't been planning on doing

“So why’re you working the night shift?”

Amanda looked up, startled by the presence of another person in what she’d thought was an empty room. Her manager had left her by herself for the beginning of her first night shift, but she wasn’t really worried. She’d been working there for a while, and the new time was the only change. But she hadn’t expected another person suddenly appearing in the cramped back room, and the stack of cups she had been balancing precariously tumbled to the floor with a loud clatter.

“Oh, shit, sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!”

She paused in the act of bending down and actually looked at the person speaking. He was a large, muscular black man with a shaved head and glasses, maybe in his late twenties or early thirties. A small part of her decided quickly she didn’t feel comfortable alone in the store with him, but another part catalogued a kind smile, gentle hands, and an easygoing attitude, at least based on the way he hastened to restack the cups and didn’t even offer to make her carry them again. Or maybe he was just trying to avoid another accident.

“I’m Luke by the way,” he said belatedly after setting the cups on the front counter but letting Amanda organize them. Perhaps he’d noticed the way she’d lingered, ready to get her hands on them the moment he set them down. She had a specific way she liked to stack them. Luke held out a large hand, and she paused her work to shake it. His grip was loose.

“Amanda, and to answer your earlier question, I used to work afternoons, but my class schedule’s packed this semester, and I need the work.” She shrugged. “Night shift was the only option.”

Luke made a thoughtful noise. “Well, it’s good you’re here. It’s just been me for the past two weeks ‘cause the last guy left so suddenly.”

Amanda furrowed her brow, a silent question directed at her new coworker.

“He just disappeared,” Luke explained. “Spilled hot coffee on Bruce Wayne one night, and I haven’t seen ‘im since.”

Amanda’s face must have been the picture of horrified shock, because Luke suddenly laughed and clapped her on the back, which made her lurch forward a little seeing as she was only five feet and absolutely dwarfed by him.

“Ah, I’m only kidding! He was a student like yourself, but he graduated in December and got a fancy job in Metropolis.”

“Honestly who even knows with Bruce Wayne. I wouldn’t be surprised,” Amanda said, trying to cover up her embarrassment.

“Never seen Wayne here before, but I’ve seen some other interesting characters.”

She was definitely being baited into asking, but Amanda saw no reason not to give in, especially since she could prepare herself for Luke’s jokes now. His personality was loud and fun, and she figured she could easily get used to working alongside him.

“Oh?”

“Ever seen a Bat before?” He asked, and, no, that had to be another joke. Amanda leaned over the narrow counter and looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

“Not in person, no. You telling me you have?”

“Yeah, and you will too, soon. They come in here sometimes.”

She deadpanned. “No way.”

“I’m serious this time! Honest.”

“There’s no way I’m believing Batman comes here!”

“I mean, I haven’t seen the Bat himself, but I’ve seen Nightwing, Red Robin, Robin, Batgirl, and the other, scarier Batgirl,” he listed, ticking them off on his fingers one by one.

“Black Bat,” Amanda supplied.

“Yeah, her. But she only came the one time. Anyway, Nighting, Red Robin, and Batgirl come the most.”

“You really expect me to believe that?” 

He shrugged. “See for yourself.”

*

Two weeks of working the night shift had Amanda run ragged. She’d thought she could handle it with ease; a college student was used to all-nighters. But by the end of her second week, she was exhausted and more than a little crabby. Luke bore the brunt of it, but his chipper attitude seemed undeterred by Amanda’s grumpy one. That man was an absolute blessing, and she didn’t deserve to work with him.

The sky outside was a dark gray, the pollution in Gotham never turning it a clear black. It cast shadows onto the walls, but the steady buzzing of the electric lights overhead kept the grim atmosphere at bay. The city was always dark and grim, but that didn’t mean the cafe had to be. Amanda got to work cleaning the tables yet again; the night shift was really boring, she was learning. That is, until Red Robin walked in.

It was early in the morning, maybe three or four o’clock, and the vigilante swung open the door with surprising force, causing it to swing all the way and hit the wall with a resounding thunk. A gust of harsh wind flooded the room, bitter cold, but he didn’t seem to notice it, or maybe he’d been out there all night and had simply become acclimated. Then he promptly slunk into the nearest booth and all but deflated, not even ordering a drink.

A small nudge from Luke and Amanda found herself walking over with a large black coffee. Not that he needed it, she thought. He needed sleep.

“Hey you, you looked like you could use a pick me up,” she said, completely unsure of the etiquette required in such a situation. But Red Robin just smiled gratefully and accepted the cup.

“Thanks, that was sorely needed,” he said after a long sip.

“No problem.”

He seemed to notice her awkward loitering, because the next thing he said was, “Sit down.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t mind, and there’s no one else here, so don’t try and tell me you need to work.”

“Oh, um, okay then.” A quick glance at Luke, still behind the counter, told her it was okay. Red Robin noticed the direction of her gaze and waved at Luke, who returned the greeting.

“So, you new here?” He went back to his coffee.

“I used to work afternoons, but I started the night shift two weeks ago.”

“Cool. I miss Brayden, but I’m sure you’re cool too. You a student?” he asked idly. Filler conversation. Small talk. With a vigilante. Amanda could do that.

“Yeah, at Gotham U. I’m a marketing major with a minor in English lit.”

“Lit, huh? You should talk to Hood.”

“ _Red_ Hood? Why?”

“He likes books,” Red Robin returned, looking thoroughly unconcerned at the information he’d just dropped.

“The Red Hood likes to read?” For some reason, a picture of him with glasses on over his helmet popped into Amanda’s head, and she had to fight the urge to laugh.

“Yeah, he’s a regular nerd. He gets mad because none of us really like to read too, so he has no one to talk about books with. Nightwing tries really hard, mostly because he just wants an excuse to talk to Hood, but he never finishes the books.”

Red Robin tipped his cup and drained the last of his coffee. He was looking less tired now, but the mask covered too much of his face for Amanda to really be sure. She turned in the booth to lean against the wall, and Red Robin mimicked the action, laying his legs out along the length of the seat.

“I thought Red Hood wasn’t friends with the Bats. Or at least that’s what the news says.”

Red Robin snorted a laugh. “The news never has a clue. Hood may not like Batman all that much, but he likes the rest of us. Or, he tolerates the rest of us.”

“Close enough.” Amanda smiled, like she’d been let in on a secret.

“Well, I know he likes N,” Red Robin continued, “because they hang out a lot outside of work.”

And something about that innocuous statement struck her as odd. She moved to sit straight again. “Wait, stop right there. Do you mean the news articles _were_ right?”

“What news articles? I mean, they’re probably wrong, because, let’s face it, they always are. But what articles are you referring to?”

“The ones that claim Nightwing and Red Hood are an item. I saw some article on Facebook just the other day that had pictures of them together, and apparently quite a few sources have caught them making out already.”

Red Robin sat up straighter and made a motion to grab his coffee cup before remembering it was empty. “I don’t really get involved in their personal lives,” was all he said.

“Does that mean they’re right?”

“I didn’t say that.” He looked torn between telling her something and staying silent. She wasn’t sure which one she should be encouraging. “Okay, look, they’re not together. Those articles- It’s all slander and lies, stories made up to appease the public imagination.”

Amanda leaned back in her seat again, feeling smug although there was really nothing to feel smug about. “I won’t pry, but I get the feeling there might be something else going on there.”

He did stay silent this time, but she counted the information she’d already gotten as a win. She held his stare until Luke walked over, which honestly was a godsend, because she really didn’t want to have a full on staring contest with a trained vigilante.

“Alright Red, it’s getting pretty late. You should probably head home, wherever the hell that is for you.”

“You’re not my dad,” Red Robin grumbled, but he was already getting up. “It was nice meeting you. See you next time,” he said, directed at Amanda.

And then he left, bringing another cold gust of wind into the cafe, reminding Amanda that he worked out there every night in conditions like that. “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” and all that.

She looked around the now empty shop, save for Luke and herself. There was a small humming noise coming from one of the machines behind the counter, but besides that it was utterly silent. It was as if Red Robin had never been there, and she was struck with a sudden urge to reassure herself that he had, that she wasn’t imagining things. They had a security feed somewhere, right?

Amanda took one look at Luke before blurting out, “Please tell me that just happened!”

“I told you so,” he joked, and, of course he’d been telling the truth. “Just wait till you meet Robin!”

**Author's Note:**

> My [tumblr](https://epistemologys.tumblr.com/)


End file.
